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Lately, Wacom has focused primarily on pen display tablets, like last year’s Movink 13. The company’s bread-and-butter Intuos series has languished, but no longer. Wacom announced the brand new Intuos Pro series, promising the company’s most accurate pen performance to date.
While display tablets are great for photographers and illustrators, many users prefer to use their own high-end displays rather than something like a Cintiq. This is where a traditional pen tablet comes in, as it is a versatile tool that enables users to control their digital brushes and cursor using a pen. In the case of the new Intuos Pro, Wacom is using its latest Pro Pen 3 technology, the same tech used in the company’s high-end Cintiq Pro displays.
Wacom has wholly redesigned the latest Intuos Pro from the ground up, including working with the more precise Pro Pen 3 and a new chip and digitizer set. Wacom says it offers more accuracy, longer battery life, and improved controls compared to the Intuos Pro released in 2017.
Although the new tablet ships with the Pro Pen 3, it also works with Wacom’s older pens if users have and prefer those. It also works with styluses made with EMR technology from companies like Pilot, Lamy, and Staedtler. There’s a pen for everyone, although the Pro Pen 3 looks like the best bet for photographers, given it features multiple customizable buttons that can be used to perform specific tasks in editing software.
“As software evolves, the need for precision increases. When we started to redesign our flagship product, we began with the foundation of precision,” said Koji Yano, Senior Vice President, Wacom Branded Business.
The new Wacom Intuos Pro comes in three sizes: small (S), medium (M), and large (L). All three share the same basic design and pen functionality, albeit with different-sized drawing surfaces. The two larger sizes include 10 customizable ExpressKeys and a pair of control dials, while the smallest tablet has five keys and one dial.
It is worth noting how thin the tablets are at their thinnest points. Wacom says this is the result of developing a new chipset for this generation of pen tablets.Although Wacom’s graphic above shows overall dimensions, the active surface area is of primary importance to photographers and other digital artists. By moving the buttons and dials to the top of the tablet, Wacom has been able to extend the size of the active area without making the tablet wider. Older Intuos tablets had controls on either side of the drawing area.
The small tablet’s 16:9 active area is 7.4 x 4.1 inches (188 x 104 millimeters). The medium tablet’s active area is 10.4 x 5.8 inches (264 x 147 millimeters). Finally, rounding out the trio, the Wacom Intuos Pro L has a drawing surface area of 13.7 x 7.7 inches (348 x 196 millimeters).
The Wacom Intuos Pro supports right- or left-handed use and is compatible with Mac and Windows. The ExpressKeys and dials are customizable through accompanying software, and the tablet can be used either connected via USB-C or Bluetooth (5.3).
The redesigned Wacom Intuos Pro tablets will begin shipping this spring. They’re available to preorder now. The small tablet is $250, the medium costs $380, and the largest size is $500.
Image credits: Wacom
English (US) ·